Reports from the Field: New Penn Trauma Research Offers Insights on ICU Design, Gun Violence and Equity

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Each month, the Penn Physician Blog features a review of recent journal publications by clinical researchers / clinicians in the Department of Traumatology, Surgical Critical Care and Emergency Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania.

In the late winter of 2022, the Trauma specialists at Penn published their perspectives on issues of great practical interest in their daily lives — including ICU design as a precedent to infection control, early pharmacologic prophylaxis for venous thromboembolism in neurosurgical interventions for traumatic brain injury, and the continuing epidemic of firearm violence in Philadelphia.

 

Do Certain Rooms in Intensive Care Units Harbor Risk for Clostridioides difficile Infection?

To explore the influence of care provider training and room topography on the genesis of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI), a common and occasionally life-threatening illness, Penn Trauma researchers sought to determine if care in specific intensive care unit (ICU) rooms asymmetrically harbored CDI cases.

Association of Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis After Neurosurgical Intervention for Traumatic Brain Injury with Thromboembolic Complications, Repeated Neurosurgery, and Mortality

The lack of evidence regarding the effectiveness and safety of pharmacologic venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis in patients having urgent neurosurgical interventions for traumatic brain injury (TBI) prompts a Penn Trauma effort to measure the association between thromboembolic and intracranial complications and timing of VTE prophylaxis after urgent neurosurgical intervention for TBI.

New Research from Penn Trauma

The following represents a selection from various publications of new studies and reports from providers in the Department of Traumatology, Surgical Critical Care and Emergency Surgery at the Perelman School of Medicine: